On Saturday at White Hart Lane, Joe Hart may have won the starting keeper job with Manchester City. With England boss Fabio Capello in attendance, Joe may have won the No. 1 job of his country’s team as well.
As the new English Premier League was about to open on Saturday, goalkeeper Joe Hart looked to be resigned to tending the bench with veteran stopper Shay Given having locked down City’s No.1 spot since he signed with the Sky Blues in the January 2009 transfer window after plying his trade with Newcastle United for a decade. But, City’s boss Roberto Mancini made the surprise announcement with his match sheet that the 23-year old Hart, back with City after having spent last season on loan with Birmingham City, would be between the sticks for the league opener.
All Joe Hart did at White Hart Lane on Saturday versus Tottenham Hotspur was to stun all in attendance and around the world watching via TV or internet with spectacular save after spectacular save, leading City to a 0-0 draw against the attack-minded Spurs side that could/should have won the match by a margin as high as four or five.
In the first 20 minutes, Hart thwarted quality attempts by Defoe, Huddlestone and Assou-Ekotto, and on 31’ was helped by one of his goal posts against a Gareth Bale shot. It was Bale who much later, off a rebound in the 84th minute, scuffed a rather wide-open attempt that should have won the match for the home side, but the left winger was unfortunately left with using his right foot, a happenstance of positioning that was perhaps the final nail in the Spurs’ coffin.
Nonetheless, it was Hart that was the MOTM with eight saves, most with jaw-dropping effect on the viewer. He never looked rattled, calmly directed traffic, confidently delivered instructions to his defensive four, and carried himself like a veteran of top-flight football.
A veteran he is not.
Joe Hart toiled in the lower leagues with Shrewsbury Town for four seasons from 2002 to 2006. It was there he made his senior debut at the age of 17 in April 2004. The following game, the young GK conceded 3 and did not feature for another whole year. He finally made the top flight with Manchester City in the 2006-07 season and then started most of City’s league matches the following season. Last season, Hart was quite busy, being the No. 1 keeper for Birmingham City (on loan) as well as in three of England’s four matches at the 2009 Under-21 European Championship. Now Hart is back with City, but most everybody’s guess was the Irish international Given would open the new campaign as the starting stopper.
It is Given who is the veteran.
In the early 1990s, Shay began his senior professional career as a backup, first with Celtic and then Blackburn Rovers, eventually spending loan spells with Swindon Town and Sunderland. It was the Summer of 1997 that Given began his decade-long stint with Newcastle United. That relationship ended in Newcastle’s dreaded season of 2008-09 that ended with the club being relegated and, before that fateful end, Given signing with Manchester City just before the end of the January transfer window. While Joe Hart was tending goal with Birmingham City last season, Given was establishing himself as the City keeper.
Given is also a veteran keeper on the international stage with his native Ireland. He featured in the 2002 World Cup for the Irish and last season, on May 20, achieved his 103rd appearance for his country to become the most capped player in Ireland’s history along side Kevin Kilband.
If Joe Hart isn’t a veteran yet at the club level, he is a babe in the woods on the international level with his native England. With the senior national team, Hart has all of two caps – his first in a friendly versus Trinidad and Tobago in June 2008 as a half-time substitute; his second this past week in England’s friendly against Hungary.
He made the trip to South Africa this summer, only to watch Robert Green gift USA their only goal in the opener, and David James suffer against Germany. Some pundits had wanted the young Hart to start for the Three Lions, but Capello left Hart on the bench as the third keeper. Joe was also named to the international squad for five friendlies and one World Cup qualifying match over the last two years, but was not used.
Now, with Capello seemingly moving toward fresh young bloods after the bloody aftermath of England’s rather dismal showing in Africa, perhaps Hart is one of those needed to infuse life into England’s national side.
And, with the summer transfer window open for another couple of weeks, perhaps the elder Shay Given will be moved (Arsenal is in need of a veteran stopper) to firmly plant Hart as City’s No. 1.
Appointing Hart as the national keeper would be a good choice for England as they move toward EURO 2012 qualification matches, and that kind of experience for the 23-year old would also be beneficial for Manchester City as they continue to attempt to define themselves as a European club power.
As for Shay Given, being a No. 2 would not suit his position as a veteran stopper with loads of skill. Another big club, Arsenal, may be in the market for such experience and skill to supplant their shaky keepers in order to be considered as a realistic contender for silverware this season. Given could give the Gunners just what they need. However, City boss Mancini hinted that Given may remain in Manchester when he noted after Saturday’s match that “because we have four competitions, we need Shay.”
City’s immediate needs notwithstanding, a simple transfer and a simple appointment could be a win-win-win for two English clubs and England as a country. Oddly, it’s up to two Italian managers to make that happen.
*****
PHOTOS:
Joe Hart makes a spectacular save of a Jermain Defoe shot on Saturday at White Hart Lane. Tom Jenkins/guardian.co.uk
Joe Hart shouts directions during the opening match of the 2010-11 English Premier League. Tom Jenkins/guardian.co.uk
Shay Given as Newcastle United’s goalkeeper. rankopedia.com
Joe Hart tending goal for England. sportinglife.com
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